Chloe Outside Herself
by Nik8100
Summary: Chloe is clearly outside herself as she expresses thoughts that are best kept secret to Clark and Lana. *Chloe's POV*. Please R&R.


This fan fiction is told from Chloe's POV. She is clearly outside herself as stated in the title. BTW, this happens before Lana moves in with Chloe and her dad.   
  
This is my first fanfic of this sort, so bear with me please.  
  
  
  
  
Clark and Lana stared at me like I had grown a second head. I raised my bottle and tipped it to my lips. I frowned when I discovered that the amber liquid that once filled it was no more. Funny, I don't remember drinking the last of it. Disappointed, I tossed the empty bottle to the floor and smiled when it crashed into tiny shards.   
  
Lana's eyes grew wide and her mouth dropped in surprise. "Chloe!" She sort of sang the two syllables of my name.   
  
I mocked her expression and said her name using the same sing-song tone. "Lana!" Childish, I know, but also fun.  
  
I sat my ass right on top of a table Lana had just finished cleaning and leaned back on my hands. I was damned pleased with myself.   
  
Just before I stumbled through the Talon's doors, I saw the two of them kissing by the table that my ass is now rudely occupying. They looked sweet in a sick, make-your-insides-churn-double kind of way. I decided to pay them a visit before I actually lost my alcohol-induced courage to tell them what I thought of their little romantic scene. Luckily the Talon was now closed and Lana was finishing the last of the cleaning.   
  
Clark walked around the broken glass and stepped in front of me. "Chloe, you're not yourself. Maybe we should get you home, you're completely..."  
  
"Pissed?" I finished his sentence for him using a word that Clark Kent would never say, even when he went through his *look at me, I'm a rebel* phase. I waved my hand nonchalantly and said, "Yeah, I know."  
  
He looked at me as if he felt responsible for my condition. Well I'd be damned if he was the reason. Everything I did, I did of my own volition. Even doing a fool thing like drinking myself totally pissed. How dare he try to flatter himself? No way, Kent. I get all the credit for this remarkable feat.  
  
Lana was still staring at the fine mess I had made. "Get over it, doll face," I said. I thought to myself, just give me a few hours, I can make a bigger mess than that. I knew my hangover would be monstrous, but for the time being, I was having a hoot.  
  
I cursed as my hand slid on a wet spot on the table. I fell back and nearly cracked my dome on the table. I believe I said something along the lines of, "Shit!" My elbow hit the table and I sat up quickly to rub it. A little too quickly. The room started tilting behind Lana and Clark and I got the sense of being on an ocean liner. Was I hallucinating or could I really hear the sound of waves crashing? No wait, that's just the sound of my heart drowning in my own sea of misery. Am I the poster girl for teen angst or what?  
  
"Chloe..." My head snapped up at the sound of Lana's voice. Sometime during my warped and heavily intoxicated thinking, I had lowered my head.  
  
"What?" I snapped at her. I was going to scream if she said something that suggested she actually gave a fig's ass about my condition. That would make what I wanted to say that much harder to get out.   
  
Lana averted her gaze to the floor. Then she looked up at Clark. "Maybe you should handle this."  
  
I gaped at her. Handle me? Clark should handle me? "Oh, Clark handled me quite nicely earlier. Didn't you, Clark?" I raised my brows at him and smiled, trying my damnedest to make him uncomfortable.  
  
Clark sighed and shook is head. "Chloe, don't do this. You said everything was fine earlier..."  
  
"I lied! You're not as dense as you would have me believe when it comes to women, Clark. Don't you know by now that I never mean anything I say concerning matters of the heart?" I stopped talking, utterly surprised at how much of a coherent drunk I was. The irony of that was not lost on me.  
  
"Oh, yeah." I tilted my head and stared at him. "Just stand there with that famous look of yours that says, *I don't know what you're talking about, so I'll just stand here with a stupefied expression on my face*. You can only put that one over on me so many times before I can no longer ignore it." I wasn't willing to admit that it was more times than I would allow myself to count.  
  
That afternoon in the Torch office, Clark came to me and told me that he and Lana decided to go steady. He told me he wanted to let me know first because things had been a little weird between us in the past. How very sweet of him. Of course, my outward reaction heavily contradicted my inward reaction. I smiled and expressed my congrats, even as my heart sank straight to my stomach. I felt like I could have vomited on the spot. He eyed me warily at first, but he did leave well enough alone, something that Clark Kent practiced to perfection and annoyed me beyond words.  
  
He walked out of the Torch office and that's when I released the reigns on my pathetic heartbreak. I couldn't control the tears collecting in my eyes. I became fiercely annoyed and began to wipe furiously at them as they soaked my face. I plopped down on a near by chair and cursed myself as my sobs ruined my composure.  
  
I slid off the table and stepped back from Clark. "At a loss for words, are we?" I waved my hands in sloppy circles and spoke sarcastically. "Big, freaky surprise there, huh?!" My sarcasm has deviated from the bright and witty usual, but alcohol has been known to have that effect.   
  
"Chloe, I never took you to be the jealous type. If you have a problem with Clark and I seeing each other, you should be honest about it."   
  
I narrowed my eyes at Lana. She stood there all composed and smug inside of her flawless exterior. The miserable thing about what she said was that I could actually detect her concern. I briefly considered letting myself feel remorse for what I was doing, but no. I would have to make the best of this delightful high.  
  
"Shut up," I told her. I could all but feel myself sprouting pigtails tied up with pink ribbon as my childish comeback snapped out. "I'm not jealous. Get over yourself." I put a hand to my cheek and widened my eyes. "But that would mean altering you're entire personality wouldn't it? Well we can't have that, can we Clark?"  
  
He ignored my last comment and stepped closer. "Chloe, you're being absurd. I'm losing my patience with you, but I'm not going to take anything you say to heart because I know you're...under the influence." He reached out to me, but I jerked back.  
  
I nearly lost my balance trying to avoid contact with him. I recovered on my own and took another step back. I could feel the unwanted sobriety squirming to the surface. The concern in Clark eyes shot straight to my heart, slowly reversing the wondrous effects the alcohol had on my conscience. And my heart. Damn it! This cannot be happening. It's too soon. Much too soon.  
  
I was suppose to make them feel bad about being together without making my own heartbreak terribly obvious. I was suppose to be relentless and bitchy, harsh with my words. And I wasn't suppose to feel sorry for any of it.  
  
I lowered my head in shame. I could feel my heart bleeding every possible emotion, and all of them mingled with the joy juice I had consumed. Warm tears slowly leaked from my eyes in streams. I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there, my tears reflecting the pain of my bruised heart. The fact that it had been submerged in alcohol did nothing to lessen the pressure that breaking had placed upon it.  
  
This time when Clark reach out to me, I didn't move. I let him put his arms around me and hold me close. He smoothed my hair with one hand and started mumbling comfort to me, but I couldn't really hear him above the roar of my sea of misery.  
  
  
*****  
  
Chloe rubbed sleep from her eyes as she peered at her alarm clock. 5:17 a.m. Feeling her eyes water, she turned her face into the soft down pillow. She couldn't even win in her sleep.  
  
  
  
THE END  
  
  
  
**Author's note: I hope I didn't freak anyone out with Chloe's behavior. It was on the strange side. This piece was totally experimental, so please provide well rounded feedback telling me what you think. It will be appreciated.   
  
For anyone who has read what I have posted for my other fanfic Possession, I am working on it and should be posting an update within the next couple of days. 


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